Dual sheet feed mechanism



June 24, 1958 NELSON ErAL 2,840,217

DUAL SHEET FEED MECHANISM ARTHUR NELSON WILLIAM R. SCHWOLOW y* ATTOR N E YS.

if INVENTORS.

June 24, 1958 A. NELSON ETAL 2,840,217

DUAL SHEET FEED MECEANISM 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Deo. 24, 1953 INVENTORS. ARTHUR NELSON WILLIAM R. SCHWOLOW BY uw# j ATTOR EIYS.

June 24, 1958 A. NELSON ErAL 2,840,217

DUAL SHEET FEED MECHANISM Filed Deo. 24, 1953 4# FIG. 5.

5 Sheets-Sheet 3 U INVENToRs. '54 4 ARTHUR NELSON WILLIAM R. scHwoLow BY n U, |57 156 ATTORN YS.

June 24, 1958 A. NELSON ETAL 2,840,217

DUAL SHEET FEED MECHANISM Filed Deo. 24, 195s 5 sheets-sheet 4 FIG. 6.

IN VEN TORS.

ARTHUR NELSON WILLIAM R. SCHWOLOW BY @Nfl/# gli ATTORNE S.

June 24, 1958 4A. NELSON ErAL 2,840,217

DUAL SHEET FEED IIIEcIIANIsI/I Filed Dec. 24, 1955 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 FIG. Il.

INVENTORS. 's ARTHUR NELSON WILLIAM R. scI-IwoLow ATTORN YS.

United States arent C) 2,840,217 DUAL SHEET FEED MECHANISM Arthur Nelson and William R. Schwolow, Norwalk, Conn., assignors, by mesne assignments, to Sperry Rand Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application December 24, 1953, Serial No. 400,248

17 Claims. (Cl. 197-133) This invention relates in general to means for automatically feeding sheets or strips of flexible material through a succession of spaced positions with respect to an operating station therefor, and has more particular relation to mechanism enabling the simultaneous feeding of a plurality of said sheets to an operating station which is common thereto, and wherein the feeding ratio between said sheets may be varied at will with the separate driving mechanism for each sheet being independently controllable.

The invention is disclosed in an embodiment adapted for feeding dual sheets of paper, each of which may contain prepared business forms presenting unequal lengths, respectively, lof line space area, to the printing platen of a business machine such las a record controlled tabulator, although it should be understood that the invention may be readily adapted for feeding dual strips or sheets of materials other than paper to a common operating station other than the printing platen vof a business machine.

Business machines of the class herein disclosed are ordinarily equipped with paper feed drive mechanism of the automatic compensating type which may be controlled in accordance with any one of a variety of operating conditions occurring in the machine to impart an occasional long or compensating feed stroke to the paper in place of the usual line spacing feed stroke. When the paper being fed comprises prepared business forms, a long or compensating feed stroke may be employed to advance the sheet from any printing position on a preceding form to the desired first printing position on a succeeding form. There are many tabulating machine operations, such as the printing of payroll checks, wherein the nature of the original form, hereinafter referred to also as the primary form, calls for only a few or even one line of printing per form, upon the completion of which the feeding mechanism is controlled to effect a long compensating stroke so as to present the next succeeding original form to printing position. In this type of tabulating machine operation it is not required that the duplicate copy form, hereinafter also referred to as the secondary form, be identical with the original form or to even follow the same line space pattern of the original form. Preferably it is desired to employ a-secondary form having considerably greater line space area thereon wherein, for paper saving reasons, the copied data would be recorded in successive line space positions regardless of the line spacing and compensation of the original primary form.

To achieve this desired type of operation, the mechanism of the invention includes separate means for driving the secondary form feeding devices and operating in conjunction with the means for driving the primary form feeding devices in such manner that the secondary form will line space for every line spacing action of the primary form, but without affecting a compensating feed stroke for each compensating feed stroke of the original or primary record form. Y

Separate means are provided for effecting a compenflce of the means for compensating the primary record form, and which means may be effective either when the secondary form reaches the last line space position thereon, hereinafter referred to as over-capacity compensation, or whenever the line space positions remaining on a secondary form are insuicient in number to accommodate the number `of complete lines to be printed on a new original form, hereinafter referred to as area compensation. Means are provided for readily adjusting the secondary form drive mechanism to conform to the number of line spaces on a secondary form regardless of the line space area of the original primary record form and to adjust the extent of secondary form compensating strokes in accordance with the various heading areas on the secondary forms and/or the maximum number of line spaces requiredfor completing a full original form. Settable means 4are provided t-o determine the extent of the normal line spacing movement of the secondary form, i. e. single or double line spacing, independently of the normal spacing of the primary record form, which means may also be set for machine control so as to automatically vary the normal line spacing movement of the secondary form upon the occurrence of a particular machine function such as, for example, a total taking operation.

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide improved means for dierentially feeding separate sheets or strips of material to a common operating station.

It is a further object of the invention to enable compensatory feeding to a common operating station of each of a plurality of strip or web materials having successively arranged thereon Work receiving areas of different lengths.

Another object of the invention is to enable the concurrent feeding to a common operating station of plural strips of material each containing separate form areas of different lengths wherein the compensating feed of each strip between successive forms is independent of the feed of the other strip.

Another object of the invention is to provide improved means for adjusting the feed driving means to accommodate form-s of different lengths.

A still further object of the invention is to enable, in a machine having dual strip feeding mechanism, the normal spacing movement of either strip to be varied under control of a predetermined machine function.

Other objects and features of the invention will be a parent from the following specification when read in conjunction with the drawing, wherein-` Fig. l is a left hand side elevation of the rear portion of a tabulating machine with the additional paper feed drive mechanism according to the present invention mounted thereon;

Fig. 2 is an isometric detail view of settable line space control mechanism for the additional or secondary paper feeding mechanism;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view in side elevation'of the actuating means for the secondary paper feed drive mechanism;

yFig.V 4 is a left hand side elevation, in section, of the paper carriage and secondary `drive mechanism, taken approximately along the lines 4-4 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 5 is a rear elevation of the mechanism shown in Fig. 4 and including a portion of the primary paper feed drive mechanism;

Pig. 6 is a detailed View of gear mechanism which may ybe adjusted to accommodate forms of varying length;

Pig. 7 is a sectional view taken along the lines 7-7 of Fig. 6;

Fig 8 is a view similar to Fig. 6 but showing the parts -in a different adjusted position;

`Figf9iis a fragmentary plan view illustratingthe separate gear trains extending'from the primary and secondary, drive mechanisms to their respective paper impelling mechanisms;V Y y g VFig. 10 is a'view of the duplicate copy form or ledger sheet illustratingthe printing thereon asarranged and spaced in accordance with the secondary :formV feed mechanism;

. yFig. lll.ill ustratesrthe relatively shorter primary formi' orl check yvoucher with the identical printing thereonspaced in `accordance with the 'primary form feeding mechanism; A.

',Fig.;r 12;is a fragmentary side elevation of the mechanism for'effecting a compensating feed stroke for Vthe seci ord controlled tabulator having a universal compensatingpaper. feed drive mechanism of the type fully disclosed in vpatentuto I. H. McDonnell, No. 2,476,449, issued.Jul`y F119, 1949, the tabulator beingV more fully disclosed in the patent 'to JQMueller, No.' 2,381,361, issued August'- 7, 1945. As more fully disclosed therein, the tabulatoris'. housed in a frame work including lower and upper side frameY castings 11, 12 respectively, onlythe left hand'frame castings being shown herein. Printing is effected by type elements y13, see Fig.`4, carried by each of a series of differentially settable type bars 14 which rise each operating cycle to bring their desired type element into horizontal alignment with a type firing pin 15. At the properrtirn/eV of each machine cycle, type hammers, not shown here, are released to strike the associated firing pin 15 and thereby drive the selected type element 13v 'Y heldlin'suita'ble spaced-relation by a plurality of transverse tie rods `and a transverse carriage mounting bar`23 `whichhas grooved portionsslide-tted in the usual way to a carriage mounting rail 24 supported by legs 25 secured to the top of the tabulator side frame castings 12; 'This constructionenables the! paper carriage to be adj istably positioned laterallyto" the type bars 14. Y f

. The structure 'of the papercarriage 20 has been some- V the primary feeding devices are slide-fitted. Y The secondary paper gripping and feeding devices 28 Vare'mounted in a similar manner on a tie rod 37, the driving sprocket 31 of said secondary feed devices being secured at the desired position along a secondary drive shaft 40 which is also suitably journalled in the side frame plates21, 22

of the paper carriage. It will of course -be understood thateach pair of sheet impelling devices 26, 2S may be Y calfdata' by the type bars14 associated with the respecwhat modified from that shown-in the above mentioned" rpatents in order to enable the simultaneous feeding of two or moreseparate sheets jof record forms about the platen soV ' primary Vand secondary are employed herein to differen- 116 and Without theYdr-ive or rotation of the platen 16`itself. For this purposethe carriage is provided withv two pairs of paper impelling mechanisms, oneof each pair ibeing shown'in Fig. 4,-which` mechanisms'may lbe of any Y' Vsuitable known type andshown herein as being of the Vrecordform sheets 27, 2 9 associated with each device.

Thefprimary'form feeding`devices 26' are driven from a drive shaft 35 suitably jourhalled inthe side frame Vplates 21, 22 of the paper carriage 20 and to which shaft 35 the sprocket vwheels 31 fthe'-primaryfffeed devices areadjustably secured. Said primaryilfeeding ,devices'are 1fuirther supported by one"offthe-transverse'tie rods 136 VAof the paper carriage to which( the central hubportion'3'3 sociated feeding mechanism be considered'only as means v for obtaining a duplicateor transfer Vcopy imprint of data p adjustably located 4in any desired position along their respective mounting means, as above describe-d, so `as to engage with marginal perforations in sheets of any desired width, and that each device is also provided with suitable guiding means for maintaining their respective Vsheets in engagement with the pins on the respective feeding chains 34. The primary form sheet 27, which may be of any continuous type, such as 'fan folded or rolled, is fed from its supply source, not shown herein but disposed in suitable relation to Ythe rear of the tabulator, through the open frame work of the paper carriage directly to the under side of the platen 16 and laround the` platen to the primary feeding devices 25 and then back towards the rear of the machine to any suitable receiving-mechanism, not shown herein. The secondary form sheet V29, which also may be of. anycontinuous type, feeds from itsrespective supply source, also notshown, to the rearward side of the'secondary feeding devices 28, thence around the platen and to the forward side of the feeding devices 28 and thence rearwardly toany suitable receiving mechanism at the rear of the machine, not shown herein. It will be apparent that in operations wherein the respective feeding' devices 26, 28 are laterally positioned so as to feed the respective sheets around the' platen 16 in superposed relation, a sheet of carbon paper or any other` suitable imprint transfer medium carriedV by either sheetsfrso as to lie between the sheets `ast-hey travel about theplaten kwill be effective for transferring the original.V imprint from the type elements 13 to the secondaryform` sheet 29. .It should bementioned here lhowever that there may be applications wherein thelprimaryand sec-V ondary form sheets are not .fed around the platen in suwherein the machine couldbe wired so asto print identitive primary or secondary sheets or wherein themachine could be conditioned'to print .only selected data fromk a-V Lrecord-card on one ofthe sheets andfother data from the samer-card onthe othersheet, in either of-which cases the secondary form sheet 29 would receive. a director original imprintfrom its associated type bars.jAccordl ingly,it should lbe understood' that although vthe terms tiate between the respective mechanisms, and formsheets which, when fed inY superposed relation, result in an Original duplicate copy sheet, the terminology is thus employed for convenience of ydescription only and is not intended to imply that the secondary form sheet andasprinted directly on the primary formsheet 27. 1

The primary sheet impelling devices 26 are actuated by an automatically compensating drive unit of the type fullyA shown and described in the aforesaid patent to'McDonnell,'No. 2,476,449. As fully described in said patent,

the drive unit operates to rotate a squared shaft (corresponding to the shaft of said patent) which is suitably journalled in'the side frame plates 21, 22 of the paper carriage 2t).V in kthe present instance however, an additional gear train has been provided, running from the shaft 45 tothe shaft 35 associated with the primary lsheet feeding device 26, so as to enable the independent actuation of the primary form feeding device 26 without concurrentrotation of the platen 16 which is preferably ldisconnected from the shaft 45 by means of the'usual platen clutch rnechanisrrn` for dual formfeeding'operations. Said additional gear trainin'cludes, ascan'bebest Seen in Fig. l9, a gear 46 secured fast to the shaft 45 and meshing with a gear 47 loosely mounted on a sleeve 48 suitably supported by a squared shaft 50, which shaft is more directly associated with the secondary sheet feeding mechanism hereinafter to be described, and like the shaft 45, is suitably journalled in the side frame plates 21, 22 of the paper carriage. Secured integral with the gear 47 and likewise loosely mounted on the sleeve 48 is a gear 51 which drives a gear train consisting of gears 52, 53, 54, each gear of said train being carried by individual stud shafts 55, 56, 57 suitably supported in bearings secured to the side frame plate 21 of the paper carriage. The other end of shaft 57, which lies on the opposite side of the frame plate 21, carries fast thereon a gear 58 which meshes with a gear 59 secured fast to the shaft 35. Through the additional gearing above mentioned it will be seen that the rotative movement of the squared shaft which rotates in a clockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 4, is carried to the shaft 35 so as to actuate the primary sheet impelling device 26 to thereby feed the primary sheet 27 around the platen 16 as heretofore mentioned. Mounted on the end of the shaft 35 is a manually operable knob 60 and associated clutch mechanism whereby the shaft 35 and the associated primary sheet feeding device 26 may be manually actuated independently of the associated driving means if desired for initially aligning the primary sheet 27 relative to the platen 16 in preparation for a dual feeding operation.

As described in the aforementioned patent to McDonnell, 2,476,449, line spacing action of the drive mechanism is effected through ratchet means, including a ratchet wheel, not shown herein, carried by the squared shaft 45 near the right hand end thereof. Said ratchet means operates, each machine cycle when line spacing is required, to step the shaft 45 in a clockwise direction as viewed in' Fig. 4, which stepping movement operates through the gearing just described to rotate the primary form feed shaft 35 and associated feeding device 26 in a counterclockwise direction a sufficient distance to effect either single, double or triple line spacing as desired. A long or compensating feed stroke is effected through compensating drive mechanism, partially shown herein, having a compensating drive shaft freely carrying thereon a detachable drum unit 66 (said drum unit corresponding to drum unit 146 of said patent) to which drum unit is secured a compensating drive gear 67 (Fig. 5). Said gear 67 meshes with a gear 68 carried by the squared shaft 45 and, during line spacing rotation of said shaft 45, is driven by said gear 68 about the compensating drive shaft 65. As is described in said patent to Mc- Donnell, the compensating drum on which gear 67 is mounted carries a plurality of notched discs set in various adjusted positions so as to drive, when effective, the drum to different predetermined points of its rotation, one of which points may be regarded as the home position. Said home position in the present application represents the rst print line on which a new form is to be printed. Whenever the operating conditions of the machine call for a compensating or long feed stroke, means are provided to engage the shaft 65 of the compensating drive mechanism with the proper disc of said drum at whatever point it may have been advanced by line spacing action and thereby drive the drum and gear 67 to the desired point which, when a new form is to be started, would be for the balance of one complete rotation and back to the home position. This compensating stroke is effected within one machine cycle and operates through the shaft 45 and aforementioned gearing to drive the primary form feeding device 26 the exact distance to bring a new succeeding form on the primary form sheet 27 into rst line print position. It will of course be understood that the size of gear 67 must correspond to the length of the primary forms being fed so that one complete rotation of the gear will be effective for feeding the primary form sheet 27 exactly one complete form length CII to thereby define one primary form feed cycle. In order to facilitate the interchanging of the gears 67, 68, to obtain various driving ratios corresponding to the length of the primary forms being fed, the drum unit 66 upon which gear 67 is supported is detachably mounted as aforesaid on the vshaft 65 and for this purpose, as described in said patent spring urged clip means pivoted on the drum unit cooperate with Ian annular groove in the shaft 65 for detachably securing the desired drum unit on said shaft. A plurality of gears 68 may be provided on shaft 45 so as to operatively engage with any one particular gear 67 which may be employed.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that all ofthe feeding functions and control thereof Vexercised by the drive mechanism as set forth more fully in said patentv to McDonnell, 2,476,449 in driving the platen of said patent, may similarly be effective in the instant application, through the additional gear train heretofore described, in operating the primary form impelling device 26 so as to thereby enable identically similar control over the feeding of the primary form sheet 27.

The mechanism for driving the secondary form sheet 29 is mounted as a separate auxiliary drive unit 70 in frame work including upright frame plates 71, 72 suitably secured in spaced relation to the upper rear portion of the left hand machine frame vcasting 12 (Fig. 4). The secondary form drive'unit is operated through linkage,

as seen in Fig. l, extending downward to the base of the` machine and connecting with a crank pin 73 carried by a crank disc 74 mounted on the main drive shaft 75 of the machine. A link 76 connects the crank pin with a rock arm 77 mounted onv a short stud shaft 78 suitably journalled in the base side frame casting 11. A rock arm 79 also mounted on the shaft 78 is connected by a link 81, made in two pieces for adjustment purposes, with a rock arm 82 mounted on the outer end of a stud shaft 83 suitably journalled inthe outer side frame plate 71 of the secondary form driving unit 70. Mounted on the inner' end of the stud shaft 83, as seen in Figs. 4 and 5, is a rock arm` 84, the rearwardly extending end of which pivotally connects with and supports anupright push rod 85, the upper end of which is suitably guided for substantially vertical reciprocatory movement by a slotted bracket 85 secured to the inner face of the secondary drive unit frame plate 71. It will be seen that upon each revolution of the main drive shaft 75, which represents one operating cycle of the tabulatingmachine, the crank disc 74 and associated linkage above mentioned will bel through ratchet means which include a rockable line space actuator 86, best seen in Fig. 3, the rearwardly extending portion of which is disposed for engagement by a stud 87 projecting from the upperportion of the push rod 85. Said line space actuator 86 is loosely mounted on a sleeve assembly 88 which is secured fast to a shaft 90 suitably journalled in the side frame plates 71, 72 of the drive unit. A spring 91 connected to a stud 92 nearpthe forward end of the actuator 86 yieldably maintains the actuator in engagement with the stud 87 thereby urging the actuator in a counterclockwise direction when the push rod is lowered.` A ratchet pawl 93 pivotally carried by the actuator 86 is urged hy a spring 94 (Fig. 14) to engage a ratchet wheel 95v which is one ,of the elements making up the sleeve assembly 88. Rocking movement imparted to the linespace actuator 86 by the upward stroke of the push rod 85 operates to step the shaft 90 and sleeve assembly 88 in a clockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 2. Mounted on the sleeve assembly 88 adjacent the ratchetwheel 95 is an additional-ratchet wheel 96, best seen in Figs. 4 and 5, operatively engaged by a spring urged pawl 97 suitably pivoted to a stationary support consisting of apawlsupporting arm`798 loosely mounted on the sleeve assembly, the rearward end of which is suspended by an arm 99 loosely hung on a rock shaft 101, hereinafter to be more fully described in connection with the secondary feed control devices, journalled in theV side frame plates 71, 72 0f the secondary feed drive unit 70. The pawl 97,thus supported in engagement with the ratchet wheel 96, operatesas a holding mechanism to prevent backward counterclockwise movement of the sleeve assembly 88 and Vshaft 90 during the return downward rocking movement of theline space actuator 86 and pawl 93. ,Y v v Also mounted fast on the sleeve assembly 88, so as tofbe` rotated by the ratchet wheel 95, is a sprocket wheel- 102 (Fig. 5,) which, throughl an endless chain 103, drives a sprocket wheel 104 freely mounted on a sleeve 105 supported bythe squared shaft 45. Also'loosely mounted on the sleeve 105 but connected integrally kwith the sprocket wheel 1.04 is a vgear 106 meshing x,with a gear 107 secured to the squared shaft 50, heretofore mentioned. An upright' plate 108, secured to and serving as a vertical extension of a side frame plate 72 and having portions cut away for accommodating the shafts 50, 45

affecting normal operation of the primary form drive shaft 45.

VMounted on the'endof the'shaft 50 which projects outwardly of the carriage side frame plate 21 is a gear 111, see'also Figs. l and 9, which,'through an intermediate gear 112 carried by a studshaft 113 suitably journalled in the carriage frame plate 21, drives a gear y114 mounted fast on the shaft 40, said shaft 40 directly engages with and drives Vthe secondary sheet impelling devices 28, as,l heretofore described. Mounted on the extreme end of the shaft 40 is a manually operable knob 1`15 and associated clutch mechanism similar to that provided 'for'the primary sheet drive shaft 35, thereby enabling manual independent operation of the secondary sheet impelling devices 28 to initially align the secondary sheet relative to the platen in preparation for a'du'al feeding operation.

"From the foregoing it will be seen that upon each upward stroke of the line space actuator 86, the ratchet wheel 95 will be rotated a predetermined distance which movement, through the gearing just described, will result'in counter-clockwise rotation of the shaft 40 carrying the secondary form feeding devices v28, the gear ratio being'such that `each full stroke of the actuator 86 results in double line spacing of the secondary form sheet 29`about the platen 16. In orderv to adjust the secondary form drive mechanism for singlev line spacing action, means'are provided to limit the extent of the stroke ofthe'actu'ator 86, said means comprising a manually settable plunger 116`mounted in a plungerv housing 117 secured to the outer face of the drive unit side frame plate 71. The inner `end of the plunger 116, which extends through the frame plate 71, is disposed to limit the downward return movement ofthe line space actuator 86 in an intermediate position when the plunger is set to its position for effecting single line spacing action. When thus adjusted for single line spacing action each upward strokeof the push rod 85 may result in only a half stroke for the line space actuator Y86, which stroke, through the gearing justdescribed, will drive the secondary sheet feeding device 28 the required extent to effect single-line spacing of the secondary form sheet 29. When end of the Vplunger is clear of the linespace actuator 86 permitting the actuator to drop to its lowermost posi-V tion against bracket to receive a full stroke upon the next upward Vstroke of the push rod 85 and thereby effecting double line spacing of the secondary` form sheet 29.

In order to control the secondary form drive unit so as to Kline space secondary form in selected machine cycles only and in conjunction with the feeding of the primary form sheet, means are provided to disable the operation of the secondary form line space actuator 86 in all machine cycles wherein the primary form sheet 27 is not fed. Said secondary form feed control means 'are mounted on a supporting arm 121 secured to thek upper portion of the side frame plate 71, which arm, as best seen in Fig. 2, supports a laterally extending pivot rod 122.V Pivotally mounted on the inner end of said rod is a disabling lever v123 disposed in vertical alignment with the line space actuator 86, the lower end of the lever 123 being engageable with a shoulder 124 formed in the forward end of the actuator. A detent wheel 125 secured fast to the squared shaft 45, heretofore described and operated by the primary form drive mechanism, is disposed for engagement by a stud 126 projecting from the upper end of the disabling lever 123 so that any rotation of shaft 45 which is occasioned by primary form feed results inl a counterclockwise rocking or tripping of the disabling lever 123 against tension of a spring 127 to thereby move the lower end ofthelever out of blocking engagement with the shoulder 124 of the detent wheel 125. In the event that there is no 'spacing of the primary form in the following machine cycle, the detent wheel 125 will not be rotated and the lever 123 will remain in blocking engagement with the shoulder 124 to hold the actuator 86 in its fully raised position so that the upward stroke of the push rod 85 in said following cycle will be inoperative for effecting any line spacing of the secondary form. However, in the event that there is any feeding of the'primary form in said following cycle, either a line spacerfeed or a compensatingffeed, the detent wheel 125 will be rotated to trip the disabling lever 123 to its unblockingfposition"whereupon the actuator 86`will drop to its lowermost position or intermediate position, depending upon'the setting of the line space control plunger 116, so as to receivey either a full orhalf stroke upon the upward stroke of the push rod 85 in said following machine cycle.

` ln order to permit a variety of modes of operation in the line spacing action Lofthe secondary form drive unit, additional manually settable means associated withithe f disabling lever 12.3 are provided so as to enable secondary line spacing each machine cycle regardless .of primary form feed inthe same cycle, or to permit secondary form feed only in association-with primary form feed but with single or double line spacing of the secondary form under control of a predetermined machine function.

vSaid additional set'table Vmeans includes a selector linger 131 pivotally mounted on the end of the pivotl rod 122 and carrying a manually settable plunger 132 cooperating Y with detent apertures in the support arm 121 whereby the Spring 136 Wise into bearing engagement with the shoulder 133. An ear 137 bent over from the lower end of the lever 135 overlies the lower rearward edge of the disabling lever 123. The lower edge of the lever 135 is formed with a notch 138 which when the lever is effective engages the stud 92 formed on the forward end of the line space actuator 86 to limit the downward return movement of the actuator in the intermediate position so as to effect only a half stroke line spacing movement on the next upward stroke of the push rod 85 thereby resulting in a single line spacing of the secondary forms.

Fig. l illustrates the position of the parts when set in the "3 setting which is the setting employed to achieve secondary form feed each machine cycle regardless of primary form feed.

With the selector 131 set in this No. 3 position the shoulder 133 thereon bearing against stud 134 holds the disabling lever 135 in a counterclockwise rocked position wherein the notch 138 is clear of the stud 92 and wherein the disabling lever 123 is held by ear 137 clear of the shoulder 124 on the line space actuator 86. Thus the disabling lever 123 is held dissociated from control by the detent wheel 125 enabling the actuator 86 to impart a line space feed stroke to the ratchet wheel 95 each machine cycle, which feed stroke may be either a single line space movement or a double line space movement depending upon the setting of the line space control button 116, heretofore described.

With the selector finger 131 set in the No 2 setting, which is a position thereof shown in Fig. 3, the limiting lever 135 is held by shoulder 133 in an intermediate position wherein the notch 133 is still clear of the stud 92 but however, wherein the disabling member 123 is not held in dissociated relation to the detent wheel 125 and accordingly may engage the shoulder 124 so as to block any return downward movement of the .actuator 86 thereby preventing line spacing action in a particular cycle of operation. When the No 2 setting is employed, line spacing of the secondary form is effected only in association with the feeding of primary forms, the secondary form line spacing action being either single or double space movement depending upon the setting of the line space control plunger 116.

When the selector finger 131 is set in the No. 1 position, which is the position shown in Figs. 13 and 14, the limiting lever 135 is yieldably maintained in its most clockwise rotated setting to place the notch 138 in proper relation to the stud 92 on the actuator 86, and the disabling lever 123 is free to engage the shoulder 124 of the actuator under control of the detent wheel 125 so as to disable the secondary line space drive in all cycles wherein the primary feed mechanism is inoperative. When in this No. l setting, the actuator 86 when released by the disabling lever 123 upon rotation of the detent wheel 125 indicating primary feed, is released to its half stroke intermediate position wherein the stud 92 thereon is engaged by the notch 138 in the disabling lever 135 to thereby effect single space secondary form sheet feed resulting from each signaled indication of primary form sheet feed. However there are many instances where it is desirable to vary the line spacing operation of the secondary feed mechanism by double spacing the secondary form sheet in selected cycles of machine operation, such as for example in separating the posting of individual accounts wherein the items of each account are printed in single line space arrangement and the individual accounts are separated from each other by double line spacing of the secondary form after printing of the total of each account. For this purpose means are provided for rendering the limiting lever 135 ineffective upon the occurrence of a predetermined machine function, such as a total taking operation, said means including a link 141 (Figs. 2 and 3) pivotally connected at one end thereof to the lever 135 and having a pin in slot connection at the other end thereof with a lever-142 secured fast to the rock shaft 101 heretofore mentioned. Secured to the inner end of the rock shaft 101 is a rock arm 143 connected to the upper end of a link 144 (Fig. 4), the lower end of which link, seen best in Fig. 14, is joined by a pin in slot connection with a rock arm 145. A spring 146 stretched between the link 144 and arm 145 yieldably maintains the parts in the position shown in Fig. 14 wherein the pin on arm rides in the upper portion of the slot in the link 144. The arm 145 is secured to a hub 147 loosely mounted on a rock shaft 150 journalled in the second-ary drive unit frame plate 72 and a frame rib 151, see Fig. 5, secured to the rear of the tabulator machine. Said shaft is rocked in conjunction with the operation of compensation control mechanism hereinafter to be described, said rocking movement thereof having no effect on the mechanism now being described since the hub 147 is loosely mounted thereon. Also secured fast to the hub 147 is a rock arm 152 (Figs. 1 and 5) pivotally connected to the upper end of a rod 153, the lower end of which, as best seen in Fig. 5, is guided for .a vertical movement in an angle bracket 154 secured to the rear frame of the tabulator, said rod carrying a collar 155 engageable with the bracket 154 for limiting the downward movement of the rod 153.

The lower end of the rod 153 is disposed in operative relation to mechanism which is fully shown and described in aforesaid patent to I. Mueller, No. 2,381,361 the description of which is included under the heading Naught blocks of said patent. As described therein, the naught block mechanism is provided as a control device for disabling a selected one or group of the tabulator type bars as a result of the sensing and special control holes in a sensed card or upon occurrence of a predetermined machine function such as a total taking operation. Said mechanism includes a naught stop actuator 156, 157

(lever 806 and lug 805 of said patent), which is pivotally mounted on the rear of the wiring unit of the machine so as to be rocked upwardly in the desired cycle of machine operation either as a result of the sensing of the special control hole or upon the occurrence of the total taking operation as hereinbefore mentioned. Said actuator is disposed to engage a member (bell crank 802 of said patent) which when actuated renders the stop effective for disabling the related type bar of the machine. In the present instance the rod 153 takes the place of the said bell crank of said patent, it being disposed so as to be raised upon the upward rocking movement of said actuator which, when resulting from a total taking operation, occurs just before the beginning of the total cycle. It being understood, as more fully described in said patent, that total taking operations require two cycles, an idle cycle followed by the total cycle, printing being effected at about of the total cycle. The upward movement of the push rod 153 operates to rock the arm 152, 145 counterclockwise to yieldably pull downwardly the link 144 so as to rock the shaft 101 in a counterclockwise direction and thereby swing the line space actuator limiting lever 135 to the position shown in Fig. 14. When in the position shown in Fig. 14, the limiting lever 135 is clear of the stud 92 so that the next downward stroke of the secondary line space actuator 86 is a complete full stroke to effect full double line spacing upon the next upward advance stroke in the following cycle. ln order to render the double line spacing movement effective in the first cycle following the printing of a total means are provided to prevent the rocking of the rock shaft 101 until after printing has occurred in the total cycle, which as heretofore mentioned takes place at about 165 of the total cycle. Said holding means includes an arm 161 (Fig. 14) pivoted as at 162 to the side frame plate 71 of secondary drive unit, said arm being formed with a shoulder 163 disposed to normally bear against a stud 164 near the upper end of the lever 142, which as heretofore mentioned is fast on the shaft 101. A spring 165 stretched between the arm 161 and the shaft naar yieldably holds the shoulder 163 against the stud 164 so as tov block the counterclockwise rocking of the shaft whenthe arm 161 is in its normal position. A stud 166 formed on the lower depending portion of the arm 161 is disposed for engagement by the upper edge of thek of a secondary form sheet just prior to the time that printing occurs, said push rod reaching the limit of its downward stroke half a cycle later about 340 of the cycle. lFig. 13 illustrates the position of the parts at 160 of a normal'tabulating cycle while Fig. 14 shows the' relative positions of the same parts at 160 of a total cycle and wherein the naught stop mechanism has been set to effect a double line space feed of the secondary form sheet following the printing of a total. As seen in Fig. 13, the shaft 101 does not rock, as the arm 161 is rocked to unblocking position, enabling the actuator limiting'lever 135 to yieldably remain in position to ef- Y, feet single line spacing in the following cycle. In total cycles however, as shown in Fig. 14, the rod 153 is actuated and maintained in a raised position by the naught block mechanism which movement in the early portion of the total cycle and while the arm 161is still inl blocking position operates to stretch the spring 146 whereupon, when the arm 161 is moved to unblockingV position at about 160 of the total cycle, the spring 146, which is stronger than the spring 136 connected to the lever 135, is effective for rocking the shaft 101 counterclockwise to result in swinging the lever 135 to the position shown in Fig. 14 so as to effect double line spacing in the following cycle. Z

y' It will be noted that the movement of the lever 13S tothe position shown in Fig. 14 by operation of the rock shaft 101 carries with it, through the bent over ear 137, the lever 123 to an ineffective position unblocking the line space actuator 86. Accordingly it will be seen that this control mechanism just described may be employed as a means for enabling secondary form sheet line spacing independently of primary form feed since it effectively dissociates operation of the secondary form line space actuator 86 from control by the detent wheel 125 driven by the primary form feed drive shaft 45. It will also be noted that this means of controlling the secondary form sheet line space actuator 86 independently of the detent wheel 125 will be effective regardless of whether the selector 131 is set in its No 1 or No 2 position. Since there frequently are tabulating machine operations ernploying dual form feed wherein it is desired at times to feed only the secondary form sheet without concurrent feeding of the'primary form sheet, the above described mechanism may be employed for this purpose. It should be understood that, asl more fully described in aforesaid patent of Mueller, No. 2,381,361, the naught block control devices may be set for control by means other than the total taking control mechanism, for example by the sensing unit upon'sensing a predetermined control perforation in a record card, which would thereby enable the naught block device in its control over the secondary form line spacing operation to be responsive to control conditions setupr in the machine other than the occurrence of a total taking operation. i

The secondary form sheet compensating drive 'mechanism includes a gear 171, see Figs. l, 6, 7 andA 8, secured fast to the outer end of the line space drive shaft 90 so as to be rotated byvthe'line space action of the actu-v ator 86 operating through the ratchet wheel 95 as heretoforegdescribed.V Meshing with the gear 171 is a ring gear 172 supported by a gear mounting hub 173 secured to the side lframe plate 71 of the secondary drive unit.

Journalled in a bearing 174 which is mounted inthe hub 173 at a point off center to the ring gear 173, is one cndof a secondary compensatingV drive shaft 175 the other end of which is suitably journalled in the side frame plate 72 of the secondary drive mechanism. Detachably secured to the outer end of the shaft 175 is a change gear 176 which is thus disposed adjacent to -but in eccentric relation to the ring gear 172. A pinion 177, supported in an adjustably positionable carrier arm 178, has sutiicient width so as to lie in the plane of both` gears 172, 176 and mesh with both of said gears to thereby operatively connect the line space drive shaft with the compensation drive shaft 175. The change gear 176 may be of a variety of sizes so as to correspond with secondary forms of various lengths, the desired ratio being such as to result in the feed of exactly one secondary form length forV each complete rotation of the gear 176 and shaft 175 to Athereby define one secondary form feeding cycle. Fig. 6 shows the parts when employing a gear 176 for use with relatively short secondary forms while Fig. 8 shows the same parts but employing a substitute larger change gear 176a as used when the secondary forms are of a relatively longer length. The pinion carrying arm 178 is rotatably mounted on the hub 173 so as to swing in an arc concentric with the ring gear 172 thereby enabling the pinion 177 to be positioned in whatever point the peripheries of said gears coincide and thereby effect a coupling therebetween as above described. A set screw 181 cooperating with an arcuate slot 182 in the arm 178 and threaded into spaced threaded openings in the frame plate 71 isprovided to lock the pinion 177 in any desired setting thereof.

n lt will be seen that the above described gearing constitutes a variable gear train between the secondary line space drive shaft 90 and the secondary compensation drive shaft wherein the change in gear ratios may be made by substitution of only one element of the gear train, i. e. the change gear 176, thus eliminating the necessity Vfor substituting pairs of gears to achieve different gear ratios as is the usual requirement inV devices of this class wherein the centers of the driving and driven gears in the train are fixed and stationary. In normal line spacing movement the line space shaft 90 is the driving shaft for said variable gear train and operates to step the compensating drive shaft 175 in a counterclockwise direction an extent corresponding to the gearfratio which may be employed. In long or compensating feed strokes the shaft 175 becomes the driving shaft for said variable gear train, it being driven from whatever point the shaft had been stepped by normal line spacing action at the time the compensation stroke became effective an extent suicient to complete one revolution thereof, i. e. to the home position, which compensating movement through the variable gear train drives the shaft 90 in a clockwise direction the required extent to complete the secondary form feed cycle and thereby feed the next succeeding form on the secondary form sheet 29 into iirst line print position with relation to the printing platen 16.

In compensating feed movements, the shaft 175 is driven by a compensating drive disc 185 (Figs. 4 and l2) mounted fast on the shaft 175 on the inner side of the side frame plate 71, the peripheral edge of said disc having a notch 186 engageable by a pawl 187. Said pawl is pivoted to a compensating feed actuator 188 which is loosely mounted on shaft 175 adjacent the disc, the pawl being yieldably urged to bear against the edge of the disc by a spring 189. A portion of the actuator 188 is conpivot connection of the push rod 85 with its operating arm 84, urges'the sector 192 in a counterclockwise direction into bearing engagement with the roller 194. It will be apparent that in each operating cycle of the machine the upward stroke of the pusl; rod 85 will rock the sector 192, unless disabled by means hereinafter to be described, so as to rock the actuator 1Std and pawl 187 in a counterclockwise direction from the position thereof shown in Fig. 4 to the position shown in Fig. 3. Whenever the .compensating drive disc 185 has been advanced in a counterclockwise direction by line spacing action to the point where the notch 186 lies within and coincides with the operative stroke range of the pawl 187, the pawl will be effective for picking up the disc and driving it to its home position, as shown in Fig. 3, to complete one full rotation of the disc thereby feeding the secondary form sheet 29 to bring a succeeding secondary form into first line print position with respect to the platen 16.

In order to adjust the length of the compensating feed stroke to correspond with the line space capacity of the particular secondary forms employed, means are provided to adjustably limit the operative stroke of the pawl 187, said means comprising a capacity adjusting slide 195 guided for vertical movement on studs 196, best seen in Fig. l, secured to the rear of the side frame plate 71 of the drive unit, the upper `stud being threaded to receive a lock nut 197 for securing the slide in an adjusted position. A bent over ear 198 formed on the slide is disposed to underlie the tail like portion of the sector 192 thereby providing an adjustable limit for the counterclockwise rocking of the sector 192 to adjustably determine the length of the operative stroke of the pawl 187. When the machine is operating with the capacity compensation feature, the slide 195 is adjusted to limit the clockwise return movement of the pawl 187 at the exact point to engage the notch 186 on the drive disc 135 when the notch 186 has been advanced by line space action to the point corresponding to the last printing line of a secondary form, whereupon the next operative stroke of the pawl 187, after printing has occurred on said last print line of the form, will result in a compensation feed stroke to feed the secondary form sheet past the headingpof the next succeeding form and to the first print line of said next succeeding secondary form. In machine operations where capacity compensation is not desired, so as to result in successive line spacing only of the secondary form sheet, the capacity adjusting slide 195 would be moved to its uppermost setting so as to hold the pawl 187 at its most counterclockwise limit of movement, corresponding to the home position of the disc 185, thus effectively preventing any operative stroke by the pawl and consequently any compensating feed by the disc 185.

In order to facilitate the registration of the secondary form sheet about the platen initially in preparation for a dual feeding operation, means are provided to signal the machine operator whenever the compensating drive disc 185 reaches its home position, said means including a camming roller 201 (Figs. 3 and l2) carried by the disc 185 and cooperating with a follower arm 202, made in two pieces for adjustment purposes, and freely mounted on a pivot stud 2103 secured to the inner face of the side frame plate 71 of the drive unit. A camming nose 204 formed on the follower arm 202 lies in the arcuate path of movement of the roller 201 so as to be rocked counterclockwise against tension of a spring 205 at a predetermined point in the rotation of the compensating drive disc 135. The arrangement is such that the arm 202 is rocked by the roller 201 as the drive disc 185 moves into its home position, the position shown in Fig. 3. A stud 206 carried by the arm 202 cooperates with a pair of normally open electrical contacts 207 (Fig. 1) mounted on the outer face of the side frame plate 71, said contacts being in a circuit running to an indicator lamp S mounted on the side frame plate 21 of the paper carriage. Accordingly, when the compensating drive disc 185 is in its home position, the contacts 207 will close to light the single lamp 208 indi- -14 cating to the machine operator that the compensating drive mechanism is in the position corresponding to the rst print line of a secondary form.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that the secondary form capacity compensation feed mechanism operates independently of the primaryv form feed mechanism and without any control therefrom so as to compensate for heading areas whenever the last print line is reached and regardless of whether the primary form feed mechanism is operating, is line spacing, or is compensating the primary form sheet in the same machine cycle. In many dual feeding operations, wherein the data to be printed on the primary form occupies more than one print line thereof, it is desired to prevent separation of the several lines of data relating to one primary form between two successive secondary forms. For this reason secondary form area compensation feed mechanism is provided, which mechanism operates under control of the primary form feeding mechanism to provide a compensating feed stroke for the secondary form sheet to first print line of a succeeding secondary form Whenever the line space area remaining on the preceding secondary form, at the time a new primary form is fed into print position, is insuilicient to accommodate the total number of lines which may be required for completing the new primary form. The secondary form area compensation control mechanism, as seen in Figs. l2 and 5, includes an actuator disabling arm 211, made in two pieces for adjustment purposes, and pivotally mounted on the stud 203, the upper edge of the arm having a recessed contour disposed for blocking engagement with a stud 212 on the secondary form compensation drive sector 192. A link 213 pivotally connects the arm 211 with a rock arm 214 secured fast to the rock shaft 150. As heretofore described, the rock shaft is journalled in the side frame plate 72 and a frame plate 151, best seen in Fig. 5. Secured to the inner end of the shaft 150 is a follower arm 215 carrying aroller 216 which is disposed for operative engagement by a cam 217 mounted on the drum assembly 66 of the primary form compensating drive unit which, as heretofore mentioned and more fully described in the aforesaid patent to McDonald, No. 2,476,449, makes one complete rotation in the course of feeding the primary form sheet exactly one form length. A spring 218, connecting the rock arm 214 with the frame of the drive unit, yieldably maintains the roller in engagement with the cam and the disabling arm 211 in effective blocking relation to the actuator 192 until that point in the rotation of the cam wherein the raised surface thereof acting on the roller rocks the disabling arm 211 to its ineffective position to render the sector 192 operative. The cam 217 is positioned on the drum assembly 66 so as to strike the roller 216 at a point in the primary form feed cycle just prior to the time that a new primary form reaches first line print position and after that point of the primary feeding cycle that the preceding form has passed last line print position, that is to say during the compensating feed stroke of the primary form sheet.

in feeding operations where the secondary form area compensation control mechanism is to be employed, the secondary formpcapacity compensation adjustment slide is set to limit the stroke of the compensating drive actuator 13S and pawl 187 to an extent equivalent to the line space area of the secondary form heading in addition to the maximum line space area required to complete the printing of a primary form. Accordingly in all machine cycles wherein the primary form is merely line spaced, the compensating drive actuator 188 and pawl 187 is held disabled in the position shown in Fig. 12. Each machine cycle wherein the primary form sheet is compensated to bring a new primary form into first line print position the arm 211 will be rocked to an unblocking position thereby enabling the sector 192 and pawl 187 to effect one operative stroke which, in the lfirst line print position.

.line position in each form.

the secondary form approaches the last'printline thereof,

Vat which stage'of the secondary.k form feeding cycle the notch 186 of the disc 135Y cornes within range of the strokeL of pawl 187, the p'awlf1787 will remain disabled so as not to compensatexthe secondary form in any cycle whereinV the primary form is line spaced, `vbut will be effectivev to compensate the secondary form sheet only in the machine cycle'iwhereinV the primary form sheet isl compensated lto bring a succeeding primary form Ainto i In this manner it will be seen that the area compensation feed mechanism operates to control the feedingjof Va selected predetermined area of the secondary formvso as to permit line spacing thereof Y 16 v. first print line of the form, tion corresponds to the home position ofthe compensating drivedisc 185, see Fig. 3, as heretofore described.

The secondary form sheet 29 will kbe line spaced by op-` eration ofthe line space actuator 86 each machine cycle thatthefprim'ary form feeds regardless of whether the" primary form lfeed is a line space movement or a Vcompensating feed movement so as to receive the duplicate and printing thereon to complete the printing ofseveral lines of Vdata relating. to a previously started primary form, andy to compensate thereover so as to prevent printing'thereon when such printing represents the first Y tionv is not desired, disabling means are providedl which include afrock arm 221k secured fast to theshaft 150 at a point adjacent the side frame plate 72l of the secondary drive unit, the upper extremity of said arm carrying a suitably housed settable plunger 222 disposed toV cooperate .with an aperture 223 formed in said frame plate '72. Said aperture aligns with the kplunger when the armv 221 and shaft 150 is rocked tothe position wherein the blocking arm 211' is ineffective, whereby when the plunger is set to( engagethe aperture the V,parts are lockedV in an inoperative position.y p j i Figs. l0 and l1 illustrate sample secondary and primary form sheets, respectively resulting from a dualv .feeding operation` with the area compensation 'control mechanism being employed, the primary form sheet 27 comprising original `payroll'checks each having an overall line space capacity of eleven liney spaces, as indicated by Vthe numbering to the left thereof, the secondary form rsheetr29 comprising ledger forms havingqan overall line Y space capacity including Vthe heading of eighty line spaces.

TheY primary form is adaptedV t'o .receive three lines of printing by :the tabulating jmachine,v the rst iive line spaces of each form representing the heading area with the first line of printing by the machine, to record the i y name of the payee and the amount of the check, appearing on the sixth line space of the form. In the following machine cycles singlelinexspacing of the primary lform brings the seventh line space into position for receiving vthe street address ofthe payee which is followedrby another line Vspacing action to bring the eighth line space feeds primary form sheet 27 a distance of nine line spaces so as to bring the sixth line space of the next succeeding form into position to receive the name of the next payeev and the amount of the next check.

From the foregoing it will4 be seen that 4'printing'of each primary form requires three machine cycles during which primary form feeding action consists of one Vcompensating feed stroke 4for bringing. a succeeding form into its first print' line'pfosition followed by two single line space movements for obtaining the second andithirdprint In the case of the secondary form sheet 29, the heading area takes up Vthe first Vthree line spaces of each form whereby the fourth li'ne space of each form becomes the Y imprint of several primary forms on successive line space positions of the Asecondary form and until the secondary form compensating' drive disc 185 is rotated a sufficienti extent` to bring the notch 186 therein within range ofank operative strokeof the driving pawl 137 associatedV therewith. It will be noted, in the instant example, that the last line of data relating to a separate primary form hap-pY pens to fall on the seventy-eighth line space 1101?A the secondary form, leaving only two line spaces` remaining on the same secondary form. In the eventy that onlycapacity compensation is required, vthe compensatingY feedY i adjusting slide 195 would be set to limit the stroke of the pawl 187 for engaging with and picking up" the drive disc, l

185 at a point corresponding toaselected line space position of the secondary form, to initiatea compensating feed stroke regardless of whether said line space conindividual primary form.

tained lthe first, second or third line of data relating to an In the present example, if employing capacitycompensation adjusted to utilize the enf tire capacity of the secondary form, theadjustment would limit the pawl 187 to a four line space compensating stroke which would take effect after printinghadloccurred on the eightieth line'space and which lwould result in separating among two secondary forms the data relat- Y ing to a sing-le primary form, two lines of said data'being printed on the two last linespaces' of one secondary form and the third line 4of said data being printed onY the fourth line space of the succeeding secondary form.

When the secondary form area compensation control mechanism is employed to achieve the results illustrated 4 ,in Figs'. 10 and l1, the compensating adjusting slide-195v is setto limit the stroke of the pawl 187 to an extent cor-` responding tothe line space area ofthe form heading, which in the present instance is three line spaces plus the number of line spaces required, to complete a primary form, vwhichrin the Apresent instance.` is also three.

line spaces. With such an adjustment, as employedv for the instant illustrated example, the notch 186 of the compensating drive disc 1785 will be rotated to within the i unit so as to render the secondary actuator 188 disabled in'all machine cycles wherein the primary formis line spaced and enabled only in those machine cycles wherein theprimary form is compensated, it will be apparent ,i

that the first primary form compensating feed stroke takf ing place after printing has occurred on seventy-eighth line of the secondary form will cause a concurrent compensation ofthe secondary form so as to prevent the starting of the data relating to a new primary form on the seventy-ninthv or eightieth line of the secondary form. However if the first of the three lines of data relating to a separate primary form happened to fall on. either lineV space seventy-seven or line spaceseventy-ei'ght Avof the secondary form, then the secondary form Wouldbe line spaced to line seventy-nine or eighty to complete the three ,lines of printing relating toV a separate primary form in which case the secondaryV form wouldvbek com# pensated either after Vprinting on line space` seventy-nine or after printingy onl line space eighty, as the case may be.- Although `the examplepherein shown Vand Ydescribed illustrates the operation of the areacompensation mechanism as employed in dual feeding operation wherein which, when in printing posi-` the primary form is designed to receive three lines o printing thereon, it will be understood that primary forms designed for receiving either fewer or greater number of printing lines may be employed with the same results through the proper setting of the compensating stroke adjustment slide 195. It will also be understood that although the instant example shows a secondary form having an overall capacity of eighty line spaces, secondary forms of other line space capacities may be employed with similar results by correlating the secondary drive gear ratio to the line space area of the secondary form through substitution of a change gear 176 of the corresponding size.

While there has been described what is considered to be a preferred embodiment of the invention, it is obvious that many changes in form may be made without departing from the invention, and therefore it is not intended that the scope thereof be limited to the exact form herein shown and described, nor to anything less than the whole of the invention set forth, and as hereinafter claimed.

What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

l. In a machine of the class described having an operating station for supporting sheet material, subdidevice and means operable within ya machine cycle for imparting a compensating interform feed stroke to the associated impelling device, each said last mentioned means being :separately controllable to operate in different machine cycles and to impart compensating feed strokes of different extent than the Iother.

2. in a machine of the class described having an operating station for supporting sheet material, subdivided into continuous forms each including a work receiving area in working relation to certain machine members operable each machine cycle on successive spaced positions thereof, dual means for concurrently feeding individual sheets containing form areas of different extent to said operating station, said dual means including separate sheet impelling devices engaging with a related sheet and operable for spacing the related sheet past said operating station, and separate means for driving each of said irnfpelling devices, said driving means having means operat- `compensating interform feed stroke to the related impelling device, each of said driving means having means for adjusting the length of the compensating feed stroke in accordance with the distance between the work receiving areas of successive forms on the related sheet.

3. In a cyclically operative machine of the class described having an operating station whereat sheet material, subdivided into successive form areas each having usable and unusable work receiving portions, is supported in working relation to certain machine elements operating "at said station, the combination with a sheet impelling device engaging a primary form sheet comprising primary forms each of a predetermined form area for spacing said primary form sheet past said operating station, Iand primary form driving means for operating said impelling device, said driving means executing a primary form feeding cycle corresponding to the length of the primary form area, each said feeding cycle in- 18 cluding a series of short feed strokes for spacing the usable form area past said operating station and a longer compensating feed stroke to pass the unusable form area past said operating station, of an additional sheet impelling device engaging with a sheet comprising secondary forms having a different extent of form area for spacing said secondary form sheet past said operating station, and secondary form driving means 'actuable independently of said primary form driving means for operating said additional impelling device through a secondary form feeding cycle differing in duration from that of said primary form feeding cycle `and comprising a series of short feed strokes and a long compensating feed stroke corresponding to the length of the usable and unusable portions respectively of the secondary form area, each type of feed stroke executed by said primary and secondary form driving means being eifectedwithin a machine cycle.

v4. ln a cyclically operative machine of the class described having an operating station Whereat continuous sheet material, subdivided into successive arranged form areas each having usable and unusable work receiving portions, is supportedA in working relation of certain machine elements operating at said station, the combination with a sheet impelling device engaging a sheet having primary forms of predetermined form area and operable for spacing said primary forms past said operating station, and primary form driving means for operating said impelling device, said driving means executing a primary form feeding cycle corresponding to the length of the primary form area, each said feed cycle including a series Vof short feed strokes to space the usable/portion of the form area past said operating station and a longer compensating feed stroke to passthe unusable portion of the form area past said station,=of an additional sheet impelling device engaging with a separate sheet having secondary forms defining a `different extent of form area and operable for spacing said secondary forms past said operating station, driving means for operating said secondary sheet impelling device through a secondary form feeding cycle consisting of a series-,of short feed strokes and a long compensating feed stroke, each type of feed stroke executed by said primary and secondary form driving means being effected within a machine cycle, and means for adjusting saidv secondary formt driving means to correlatel the sheet feeding movement within each sheet feeding cycle effected by short feed strokes and a long feed stroke with varying proportions between the usable and nonusable portions respe-ctively of the secondary form area.

5. In a machine of the class described having an operating station whereat continuous sheet material, subdivided into successive form areas each having usable and unusable work receiving portions, is supported in working relation to certain machine elements operating at said station, the combination with a sheet impelling device engaging a sheet having primary forms each defining a predetermined form area and operable for spacing said primary forms past said operating station, and primary form driving means to operate said impelling device, said -driving means executing a primary form feed cycle corresponding to the length of the primary form area, each said feed cycle including a series of short feed strokes to space the usable form area past said operating station and a longer compensating feed .stroke to pass the nonusable form area past said station, each type of said feed strokes being effected within a machine cycle, of an additional sheet impelling device engaging a separate sheet having secondary forms each defining a diiferent extent of form area and operable for spacing said secondary forms past said operating station, `and driving means for operating said secondary form impelling device through a secondary form feeding cycle, said driving means including a line space actuator operable each machine cycle and effective for imparting a series of short feed strokes to said secondary impelling '19 device and a` compensating feedh a.ctt 1ator ,operable .each machine cycleand effective upon'the completion of a predetermined number of operations -ofisaidlinespace actuator for imparting a long `feed stroketo said impelling device, said line space actuator being operable under control of `said primary form drivingrmeans.

6. In a'machine ofthe class described having an oper- Y ating station whereat sheet material, subdivided into suc*- cessive form areas each having, usable and unusable Work receivingk portions is: supported in *Working relation rto certain-'machine elements operatingV at said i station,Vl the Acombination vvitha sheet impelling device for engaging V,a sheet having primary forms defining a predetermined formV area'and for spacing said primary form sheet past said"operating:V station, `and driving means for operating 'said in'ipelling device, said driving means operating through a primary form`feed cycle corresponding to the "length: of the primary form area and including mechanism for imparting a normal short feedstroke to said impelling device incertain machine cycles and mechanism foriimpartingV along compensating feed stroke in other machine cycles,'j of. anadditional sheet impelling device r-forfengagingja separate sheet containing secondary forms having a,ditferentjextentofrform area than said primary forms' and-,for'spacing said secondary forms past said `Voperating station, and driving means for operating said additional impelling deviceV through a secondary form feeding cycle corresponding tothe extent of the sec- 'ondary formarea, said secondary form driving means including mechanism rendered effective by the operation Lfeedfstroke to said additional impelling device and corn- -pensating mechanism rendered effective by the completionofa'selected number of short feed strokes for 'irnf parting aflongy feed stroke to said additional impelling device, said secondary form compensating mechanism be- Y ing jelectivewithin a machine cycleY and independently compensating 'feed stroke to said' primary form impelling device.' p

offprimaryf,'formsfarranged successively on a primary form sheet, tofrsaid operating stationin a primary form VV'feeding cycle embracing la plurality of machine cycles and which primary form feeding cycle may include short lineV space'V feed strokes j and longer compensatingV feed strokes, means for concurrently feeding a sheet of secondary forms to `said operating station including a secondaryform sheet impelling device, means geared to said impelling device and operable each machine cycle under control of said 'primary .sheet feeding means for yline spacing said secondaryV form sheet past said operating station, a secondary compensating feed actuator reciprocable each machine cycle, a compensation drive member geared to said impelling device to execute a cyclic movement corresponding toV a-secondary form feeding cycle and engageable by said compensating feed actuator when advanced within the operative range of said actuator, and meansV for adjustably limiting the operative range of said actuator to determine the line space position Von each secondary form -whereat said compenating drive member becomes effective.

8. In a imachine of theclass describedthaving anV operating ystation and means for feeding each of a plurality of primary forms, arranged successively on a primary form sheet, to said operating station in a primary form feeding cycle embracing-the plurality yof machine cycles and which primary form feeding cycle may include short line spacingj feed 'strokes yandV longer compensating Vfeed deviicesto line Yspace the secondary form 'sheet past said operating station, acompensating feed actuator reciprocableeach machine cycle, a compensating drive member geared tosaid impelling devicel to execute `a cyclic moveinent'correspronding to each secondary form feeding cycle and engageablejby said compensating feed actuator when "advanced within the operative rangeV of the compensatingfeed actuator, and means for adjustably limiting the 'operative stroke of said actuator' to `determine'the line.

spaceiposition on each secondary form Whereat said compensating drive member `becomes effective.

' 9. In a machine of the class described having an operating station and means for feedingl each of aV plurality of primary forms, arranged successively on a primary form sheet,.to said operating station in a primary form lfeeding cycle embracing a plurality of machineY cycles and which primary form feeding cycle may include short line spacing feed strokes and a longer compensating feed stroke, means for concurrently feeding a sheet of Vsec-V ondary form to said operating station including a secondary sheet impelling device, a secondary formline space actuator reciprocable each machine cycle runderl control of Vsaid primaryl form feeding means, ratchet means geared to said impelling device and operated by s aid actuator to line space said secondary form sheetlpast saidV operating station, a compensating feed actuator relof said primary drive means for imparting anormal short v V.of the operation Aof the ,said mechanism for imparting a l s 140 .InV a machine ofthe class described having an oper-V ating station and means for feeding each vof La plurality Vciprocable each'machine cycle, a compensating feed drive f member geared to said ,impellingl device to' execute a .cyclic movement corresponding to asec'ondary form feed-V :line spacing feed'strokes and allonger compensating feed f stroke, 4means' for concurrently feeding a` sheet of secyondary forms to said operating station and including a secondary sheet impellingdevice, a secondary form line spacing actuator reciprocable each machine cycle under control of 'said primaryV form feeding means, ratchet 'means geared to said impelling device and operatedby said actuator to drive said impelling device, a compensatingfeed actuator reciprocable eachmachin'e cycle, a cmpensating feed drive membergeared to said impelling device' to'eXecute a cyclic `movement corresponding to a secondary form feeding cycle and having means disposed Ythereon for engagement bysaid compensating feed actuator When advanced within the operative rangeof said actuator, Vand adjustably settable means Vfor limiting the operative stroke of said compensatingfeeding actuator to determine the eXtentof-line'space feed movement in each.

4secondary form feeding cycle at which said compensating drivemember becomes effective,V -f

ll. In a machine of the class described having an operating station and means for feeding each'of a -plurality of primary forms, arranged successively on -a primary forni sheet, to said operating station in'a primary form feeding cycle embracing'a plurality of machine cycles and which primary form feedingicycle mayiinclu'cle short `line spacing feed strokes andY longer compensating feed strokes,4 means for concurrently feeding Va sheet of secf' ,ondary forms to said operating station including a'secondary sheet impelling device, ratchetv means operable each machine cycle under icontrolrof said primary feedr ing meansV and geared to saidrsecondary sheet impelling strokes, means yfof concurrently feeding a lsheet of secondary forms through said 'operating station including a secondary sheet-impelling device, ratchet means geared -to said impelling device andoperable` each machine cycle 'to line space a secondary form sheet pastlsaid operating fstation, a disabling member controlled by said primary formY feedingV means' to prevent the-operation of said ratchet Ymeans infniachine cycles wherein' said primary form feeding means is inoperative, a compensating feed actuator reciprocable each machine cycle, a compensating drive member geared to said impelling device to execute a cyclic movement corresponding to a secondary form feeding cycle and having means disposed thereon for engagement by said compensating feed actuator when advanced within the range of said actuator, and means for adjustably limiting the operative stroke of said actuator to determine the extent of line space feeding movement of said secondary form sheet at which said compensating drive member becomes effective.

12. In a machine of the class described having an operating station and means for feeding each of a plurality of primary forms arranged successively on a primary form sheet, to said operating station in a primary form feeding cycle embracing a plurality of machine cycles which primary form feeding cycle may include short line spacing feed strokes and longer compensating feed strokes, means for concurrently feeding a sheet of secondary forms to said operating station and including a secondary sheet impelling device, a secondary line space actuator reciprocable each machine cycle, ratchet means geared to said impelling device and operated by said actuator to line space the secondary form sheet past said operating station, a disabling member disposed, when effective, to prevent the reciprocation of said actuator, a compensating feed actuator reciprocable each machine cycle, a compensating drive member geared to said impelling device to execute a cyclic movement corresponding to each secondary form feeding cycle, said drive member having means engageable by said compensating feed actuator when advanced within operative range of said actuator, means for rendering said disabling member ineffective each machine cycle wherein said primary feed means is operative, and means for adjustably limiting the operative stroke of said compensating feed actuator to determine the extent of line space feed movement of said secondary form sheet at which said compensating drive member becomes effective.

13. In a machine of the class described having an operating station and means for feeding each of the plurality of primary forms, arranged successively on a primary form sheet, to said operating station throughout a primary form feeding cycle embracing a plurality of machine cycles and which feeding means includes mechanism normally operable each machine cycle for line spacing said primary form sheet, and mechanism controllable in other selected machine cycles to effect a cornpensating feed stroke, means for concurrently feeding a sheet of secondary forms to said operating station and including a secondary sheet impelling device, means geared to said impelling device and operable each machine cycle to line space said secondary form sheet past said operating station, secondary compensating drive means geared to said impelling device to execute a cyclic movement corresponding to a secondary form feeding cycle and adjustably settable to become operable after advancing to a predetermined point in each secondary form feeding cycle, said drive means when operable effecting the completion of a secondary form feeding cycle during the course of a machine cycle, and disabling means controlled by said primary form feeding mechanism for rendering said secondary form compensating drive means operable only in machine cycles wherein said primary form compensating feed mechanism is operated, whereby compensation of the secondary form sheet is rendered dependent upon compensation of the primary form sheet.

14. In a machine of the class described having an operating station and means for feeding each of a plurality of primary forms, arranged successively on a primary form sheet, to said operating station throughout a primary form feeding cycle embracing a plurality of machine cycles and which feeding means includes mechanism normally operable for line spacing said sheet past v 22 said operating rstation and controllable to impart, in certain machine cycles, a compensating feed stroke to said primary form sheet, means for concurrently feeding a sheet of secondary forms to said operating station including a secondary sheet impelling device, means geared to said impelling device and operable each machine cycle to line space said secondary form sheet past said operating station, la secondary compensating feed actuator reciprocable each machine cycle and having an operative feed stroke adjustably limitable to determine the maximum extent of the compensating feed stroke of each secondary form feeding cycle, a secondary compensating drive member geared to said impelling device to execute a cyclic movement corresponding to each secondary form feeding cycle, said driving member having means engageable by said actuator when advanced within range of the operative. stroke of said actuator, and disabling means controlled by said` prim-ary form vfeeding mechanism to render said secondary compensating actuator inoperable in machine cycles lwherein said primary form line space feed mechanism is effective and to render said secondary form actuator operable in machine cycles wherein said primary form compensating feed mechanism is effective, whereby said secondary form sheet may be compensated only concomitantly with the compensation of said primary form sheet.

l5. In a machine of the class described having an operating station and means for feeding each of the plurality of primary forms, arranged successively on a primary form sheet, to said operating station throughout a primary form feeding cycle embracing a plurality of machine cycles and which feeding means includes mechanism controllable to effect line spacing feed and compensating feed in selected machine cycles, means for concurrently feeding a sheet of secondary forms to said operating station including a secondary sheet impelling device, means geared to said impelling device, operable each machine cycle, to line space a secondary form sheet past said operating station, a secondary compensating feed actuator reciprocable each machine cycle, means for adjustably limiting the operative stroke of said actuator to determine a maximum extent of compensating feed within each secondary form feeding cycle, a secondary compensating drive member geared to said impelling device to execute a cyclic movement corresponding to a secondary form feeding cycle and having means engage- -able by said actuator when advanced within range of the adjusted operative stroke of said actuator, a blocking member normally disposed to prevent reciprocation of said actuator, and means responsive to the compensating feed operation of said primary feed mechanism for rendering said member ineffective, whereby compensation of said secondary form sheet may be effected only concomitantly with compensation of said primary form sheet.

16. In a machine of the class described having an operating station for supporting sheet material in Working relation to certain machine members -operable thereon and having control mechanism effective only in certain machine cycles, means for spacing a primary form sheet past said operating station, said means including a primary sheet impelling mechanism and means under machine control for driving said impelling mechanism, a secondary sheet impelling mechanism for spacing a secondary sheet past said operating station, a line space actuator recprocable each machine cycle, means geared to said secondary sheet impelling mechanism and engageable by said actuator for operating said secondary impelling mechanism, a disabling member for said actuator responsive to the operation of said primary sheet driving means for rendering said actuator effective, a limiting member for said actuator presettable to block the reciprocation `of said actuator at a predetermined point in the operative stroke thereof, and means operated by said control mechanism to render said limiting member ineffective, whereby said actuator may operate to effect line spacing movement of one extent in machine cycles wherein said control mechanism is in operative and line spacing movement of a different extent in machine cycles wherein said control mechanism is operative.

17. In a record controlled machine of the class described having an `operating station for supporting sheet material in working relation to certain machine members operable thereon andA having control mechanism operable only in certain machine cycles, means for spacing a primary form sheet past said operating station, said means including a primary sheet impelling mechanism and means under machine control for driving said impelling mechanism, a secondary sheet impelling mechanism for advancing a secondary sheet past said operating station, a line space actuator reciprocable each machine cycle, means geared to said secondary impelling mechanism and engageable by `said actuator for operating said secondary impelling mechanism, a disabling member for said actuator disposed when effective to prevent reciprocation of said actuator, means associated with said primarysheet driving mechanism and effective, when said drive mechanism is operated, to render said disabling member ineffective, a member disposed to limit the operative stroke of said actuator, said member being shiftable from `an effective to ineffective limiting relation to said actuator and having means, when in ineffective relation to said actuator, for rendering said disabling member ineffective, and means operated by said control mechanism to shift said limiting member to said ineffective position, whereby said secondary line space actuator may be controlled to space said secondary form sheet varying extents and in machine cycles wherein said primary form feeding mechanism is inoperative.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,237,466 Zimmermann Apr. 8, 1941 2,326,291 Dodge et al. Aug. 10, 1943 2,348,059 Daly May 2, 1944 2,392,838 Davidson Jan. 15, 1946 2,436,746 Drought` Feb. 24, 1948 2,555,732 Dayger et al. June 5, 1951 2,566,932 Dayger et al. 'Sept. 4, 1951 

